W.N.B.A. Players’ Overseas Obligations Cramp Their Teams

The Liberty will be without Kia Vaughn, left, for most of June as she plays for the Czech Republic in the EuroBasket tournament.CreditCreditJesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE, via Getty Images

By Seth Berkman

June 2, 2017

When the Liberty traded for center Kia Vaughn in January, Coach Bill Laimbeer knew there was a caveat.

Vaughn did not have a history of balky knees or a penchant for controversy. She has been quite the opposite for much of her nine-year career: a team leader and a stabilizing presence in the lane.

But Vaughn did have a passport from the Czech Republic, signaling her commitment to its national team. That includes playing in the EuroBasket tournament in Prague and Hradec Kralove, and leaving behind the Liberty for most of June.

“It’s very hard,” said Vaughn, a New York native. “It got harder when I got traded home.”

Vaughn’s Czech citizenship “opens up other doors for me business-wise,” she said. “As a professional, you want to open up as many doors as you can for as long as you can. I’m not sure when my career will come to an end.”

W.N.B.A. players have long spent up to half their year overseas, looking to capitalize on their earning potential for foreign teams that offer more lucrative salaries than those available stateside. Some players, like Vaughn, even become naturalized citizens in the countries where they play, which allows them access to national team competitions and additional income.

For the Liberty, who have a 3-3 record after a 93-89 victory at Madison Square Garden on Friday over the Dallas Wings, EuroBasket comes at an inopportune junction. Guard Epiphanny Prince, who became a naturalized citizen of Russia in 2010, will also compete at the tournament, which begins June 16.

In May, Laimbeer said he hoped to have a read on his team after about four games. But the early litmus test on the Liberty’s DNA remains largely inconclusive, a troubling sign for a team that harbored championship aspirations. The Liberty finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference the past two seasons.

The Liberty were counting on contributions from Prince and Vaughn. Brittany Boyd, who, entering her third year, was expected to play a major role as the Liberty’s lead guard, is out for the season after tearing her left Achilles’ tendon May 18 against the Minnesota Lynx.

“Three of our top seven players are gone,” Laimbeer said.

During Tuesday’s 90-75 loss to the defending champion Los Angeles Sparks, the potential impact of Prince’s absence was evident.

With the Liberty star Tina Charles in foul trouble, the Sparks began to pull away late in the third quarter. Prince single-handedly kept her team afloat as long as she could, accounting for two steals and six uncontested points during a stretch in which the Liberty regained the lead.

Over the next month, opposing teams will concentrate on Charles, presenting a multitude of potential problems. Aside from Prince, the Liberty have yet to see a consistent secondary scoring threat emerge. Before the season, Laimbeer said he wanted to cut down Charles’s playing time. (Charles scored a career-high 36 points in Friday’s game.)

The predicament provides Laimbeer with an opportunity to assess several young players he has expected to take on increased roles this season. Among the potential beneficiaries, Laimbeer said, are guards Bria Hartley and Lindsay Allen and forwards Amanda Zahui B. and Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe.

The Liberty are not alone in having American players with EuroBasket commitments. The Connecticut Sun will lose guard Alex Bentley to Belarus, and the Chicago Sky will be without guard Courtney Vandersloot, who will play for Hungary. But the Liberty are the only team missing two players.

“We have no choice,” Laimbeer said. “The economics of the situation are such, they feel it’s a necessity. It pays well.”

The W.N.B.A. offers bonuses to players who choose to limit their overseas commitments and has expanded its off-season internship and professional training programs for players.

Still, Laimbeer said he and other coaches had voiced their displeasure with the league about the large number of international obligations that continue to affect the W.N.B.A. season. He added that late arrivals to training camp often affected performance over the first month of the season. Players are occasionally slow to integrate into systems or are not in shape for the W.N.B.A. style of play.

In Minnesota, Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus, core starters for the Lynx, skipped overseas opportunities last winter, largely to rest their bodies. All three were at training camp from the start, and the Lynx (6-0) own the best record in the league.

“It is what it is,” Laimbeer said. “Nobody likes it. You just have to deal with it and get up to speed as fast as possible.”

Laimbeer was not critical of Vaughn’s or Prince’s decisions. Since he traded for Prince before the 2015 season, she has regularly missed time playing in Russia.

Such a compact schedule takes a mental and physical toll on Prince, but she has learned to embrace her Russian teammates and the opportunity to work and travel abroad. She keeps tabs on the Liberty when she is away.

“I really just try to focus on the task at hand just out of respect for the national team and how much they respect me and support me,” Prince said. “It’s been my obligation. It’s something I like to fulfill and do with pride.”

Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike, who played with Prince last winter for Dynamo Kursk in Russia, praised the professionalism of players who handle W.N.B.A. and international duties midseason, and their willingness to shuttle back and forth between countries.

Last October, Ogwumike was elected president of the players association. The position puts her on call year-round, and she often helps W.N.B.A. players navigate decisions regarding playing overseas.

“I think people are just setting themselves up for the future,” Ogwumike said. “I mean, we’re in a difficult spot because we love playing at home and we love this league, and it’s not for the money. So then you could also argue, if it’s not for the money, then why are you leaving? We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, and you find a lot of players having to fulfill those commitments in an effort to continue to have those opportunities overseas.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D2 of the New York edition with the headline: Overseas Commitments Benefit W.N.B.A. Stars But Cramp Their Teams. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe